In 1897 Councilman1 wrote, in a paper on "Acute and Subacute Nephritis": "The chemical and microscopic examination of the urine, important as it is, does not give any sure information as to the character of the (renal) lesions."

Reflecting on this remark and recalling various discrepancies between antemortem and postmortem diagnosis in renal cases that have come under my observation, it seemed to me worth while to compare systematically the urinary records and postmortem findings in all the cases of acute and chronic nephritis that have come to autopsy at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1893. The results of this work form the bulk of the present paper.

The group of cases examined excludes all suppurative diseases in or near the kidney, and includes, for the sake of comparison, some conditions in which the urine is more or less like that of nephritis.

Since the histologie lesions found postmortem have been the basis of the nomenclature used throughout, I append a brief statement of the appearances to which each name refers: